


Change of Fate

by Dumb-Birdd (saltybird)



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: ? - Freeform, Angst, Canonical Character Death, Gen, Heavily Sora/Vanitas centric, Memory Loss, Mild Blood, Mild Language, No Romantic Plot, Post-Kingdom Hearts III, Reaper Games, TWEWY plot, canon-verse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-18
Updated: 2019-03-10
Packaged: 2019-10-30 16:54:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17832479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saltybird/pseuds/Dumb-Birdd
Summary: Post KH3/secret movie ending- Spoilers and next game speculations ahead !Sora wakes up in the middle of the street, at night and in a puddle of water. Confusion hits and he realizes he's missing import details in his memories, including how he ended up in a strange city far from home. He receives a text message, telling him to reach 104 or face erasure.On his way to the 104, he meets someone who was once his nemesis, Vanitas, only to have to form a pact with him to survive and learn about the Reaper Games.





	1. Burdens

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!!! Just wanna say real quick that it has been a VERY long time since I've written a fic and published it for this ungodly world to see, but this fic kind of means a lot to me right now. 
> 
> Kingdom Hearts has been a part of my life since I was six years old, I've waited a lifetime for another main title game for this series(not that I haven't played and enjoyed the spin-offs and other sequels/prequels- I have!), but KH3 as a game meant everything to me to finally be able to play, and when I did, I couldn't help but to conceive this little fic about that secret movie and where I think(and honestly ultimately want) this next game to go in direction of plot. So yes! This fic is purely just my speculation of the ending and my dreams for the future of the series, and the character interactions. This in no way has a romantic plot to it, just fyi if anyone was looking for it. Romo subplots might still spring up, but will be very brief if they do- but ultimately you can make of it what you will. 
> 
> I'm not sure how far I'll be taking this fic, as far as how many chapters it will be... I'm one of those plan-as-I-go kinda guys, but I /do/ have enough planned for quite a few more chapters as of 02/17, so I guess we'll see how it goes.
> 
> \- Have fun, good luck 👌

Wake up. . .

Wake up. 

Wake up, wake up, wake up; Sora, you must get up-

The inside of his head was ringing like a loud bell and he could no longer ignore it. He grimaced and forced his bleary eyes open. The realization that he was face down on the wet pavement suddenly making the process of getting up much faster, though it made him unsteady for a moment.

He rubbed absently at his face, waiting for the world around him to stop spinning, waiting for the ringing in his ears to subside… Or was that maybe his phone ringing? He reached for it in his pocket, surprised that it looked nothing like what he thought he remembered it as. It was slender and a sleek purple, not at all bulky or consisting of the colors in his memories of it. He also had to flip it open to get to the screen- which felt very foreign to him, but it must have been his if it was in his pocket.

A message scrolled across its tiny screen: “Reach 104. You have 60 minutes. Fail, and face erasure. --The Reapers.”

Sora blinked at the message, dumbstruck. “The Reapers?. Erk--” He dropped the phone and shook his hand as if it had been stung. Looking at his palm he noticed there was a sudden countdown starting from 59:59 on his palm in red and black typeface. A timer? This was getting strange.

He looked around at the tall and unfamiliar buildings, whose brightly illuminated signs against the dark sky made him wince, at least until his eyes adjusted. Where was he? And how did he get here? He didn’t even know where here was, exactly. Nothing around him seemed familiar, not even vaguely. There were a few people out, around the sidewalks nearest the buildings. He scooped up the phone he dropped and ran over to them waving. Maybe they could help him or give him some answers.

“Heeello! Hi! Can you he...lp me?..” He trailed off, stopping short of his stride and tilting his head. They didn’t even spare a glance at him. He took a few more steps towards them and waved again. “Uhm… Hello?” 

They completely ignored him. Not a single person batted an eye at him or acknowledge him in any type of way, as if they couldn’t hear or see him.

He blinked and glanced around at different people, but they all went about their own ways, acting as if he were but a ghost. That feeling didn’t sit well with Sora, but he couldn’t let it hinder him- he had to figure this out. Where he was and why no one seemed to acknowledge him… He looked at his hands again- the red timer on his right hand still ominously counting it’s way down to zero, seconds at a time.

Guess he had no choice but to just move on and see what he could find, but the city around him just seemed so vast and intimidating, and most of the buildings tended to look the same. Geez, how easy was it to get lost in a city like this? The one thing that really stuck out to him was the tower that lie farther ahead of him from many blocks over, with its hauntingly big red numbers on the facing: 104. That must’ve been what the message was about, where it wanted him to go.

“Well, if nothing else,” Sora sighed to himself. It seemed worth a shot to make the trek over to it, so he didn’t waste another moment to start moving. He had a weird feeling about being on his own and not being sure of what was going on, and the atmosphere of this place just made his anxieties worse. He wanted to call out to someone, someone he might have known, but his tongue nor his memories could remember any names he once trusted. He stopped mid-stride and crossed his arms, frowning at his reflection on the ground. Something was missing- important things were missing. Not just his memories of how he ended up here, but memories of people- people he knew? People who seemed to have significant roles in his life, they were seemingly erased from his memories.

“Ergh- think Sora, think. What’s the last thing we remember?” He tapped his foot on the ground while he thought, thinking hard about the question and trying not to focus on the missing people in the way of that answer. But he remembered nothing- well nothing that could have helped him, as it seemed all of his memories were spotty because of the absence of others, like someone had chopped pieces out of a film and tried stitching the scenes back together after taking the most important parts out of it- which was arguably a lot of it. It seemed most of his time had been with the missing people and because of them, his memories were skewed.

“That’s… Weird...” he muttered, frowning deeper to himself. He jumped, startled when he heard a tiny croak from his right. He whipped his head to see what it was but it was only a frog--

A frog?.. 

He bent down and held his hand out to the creature, an immediate feeling of empathy for it despite the sour feeling his gut gave him. “You look just as lost as I am, little froggy…” He cooed, only to yelp and jolt back when it swelled in size and lept at him, physically hurting him. And it wasn’t just one froggy coming at him anymore, three more suddenly appeared and aggressively lept at him.

He scrambled up to his feet and hopped back quickly. “H-Hey! I just wanted to help you guys!” Sora cried, dodging them to his best ability but they were hostile and very persistent on hurting Sora. He kicked at one but it ended up clinging to his leg, causing him much more pain. 

“Get off of me, get off of me!” Sora shrieked, shaking the fiend off of his leg. He instinctively flung his arm out, hand ready to grasp for something- a weapon- but nothing appeared and there was nothing around. A part of him swore that it always worked- that there would have been something coming to his aid by now, but whatever it had been was missing now.

His problems only grew worse when Shadows with glowing yellow eyes started squirming out from the shadows on the ground, seemingly coming to aid the vicious frogs in their assault on him. He had nothing to fight any of them off, he had no choice, he had to flee.

He swallowed back his pride and the pain in his leg and made a break for it, dashing around a building’s corner and sprinting to the next block- and two more after that, just to be safe. He should’ve been far enough away from the danger now. He bent over his knees, trying to catch his breath back. He felt moisture well up in his eyes that he quickly rubbed away with the heel of his hands. Why was this happening to him? What purpose did any of this have? Why couldn’t he remember anything to get him out of here?! He let out a frustrated scream and held his head in his hands.

“What’s going on?!” He yelled into the nearly empty streets. Not a single head he could see turned to him and it only made the frustrations worse, but then he heard footsteps approach from behind him and before he could whip around, a low and gruff voice spoke from the same direction. 

“So... It seems you've met your demise, Brother number two…” the voice purred. 

He immediately whipped around to see who it was, holding his hand out as if he expected a weapon to finally appear in his grasp, though one never did. It was odd, the feeling of helplessness and something important missing. What was it though? Why could he remember the notions but not anything else about it?

“Wh--” he stopped and straightened up quickly, taking a slight step back. “V-Vanitas?... Is that you?” his voice croaked, making him sound as unsure as he felt. He remembered Vanitas. Even Ventus, Vanitas’ other half, came to mind, but others surrounding them in his memories still seemed blurry, untouchable… 

Vanitas held his unarmed hands up and his mask faded away, his styled black hair spilling out. He took a few sauntering steps closer. “Aw, I'm almost touched that you remember me,” He said flatly. “I guess it's hard for you to forget this face, isn't it?” He grinned at Sora with a mouth nearly identical to his own, minus the much sharper set of teeth lining it. He put his surrendering hands down. “Enough of our sweet reunion, though. You're just the person to forge a Pact with, otherwise, you and I are good as dead.”

“A pact?” Sora asked hesitantly. “W-What do you mean dead? Where are we?” He tried to sound demanding, but his voice still made him sound so small and unsure of the moment.

Vanitas gave him a look, a cross between surprise and utter annoyance, and he muttered something under his breath. “I don’t have time to explain everything to you until you make a Pact with me. It's the only way for us to defend ourselves here-- are you in or not?”

Just then, the Shadows and other strange frog-like monsters were back, making haste from behind Vanitas. 

Sora stiffened and gulped. He glanced back and forth between Van and the approaching monsters. Could he trust Vanitas? Parts of his memories told him he wasn’t a friend in the past... “Defend ourselves from them, right?”

Vanitas glanced behind himself, audibly growling at the fast approaching menaces and taking another quick step towards Sora. He thrust his hand out for Sora’s. “Noooo, of course not them- Yes, you moron, I mean them! I'll find another partner and leave you to be erased if you'd rather-” Vanitas urged.

“N-No!” Sora gasped, reaching for Vanitas’ outdrawn hand and taking it firmly in his. “I-I’ll forge a pact with you!”

A flash of bright light and a pulse of cold darkness sprung from the both of them and intertwined, becoming an essence of one before it dispersed around them in a ray of many colors and particles, like the many stars around the galaxy. Sora gasped, surprised and suddenly anxious about what had just happened. Could they fight the monsters off now? Sora flicked his hand out, expecting that missing feeling to return into his hand, but it didn’t. Vanitas, however, attacked the monsters without hesitation or second thought- with what seemed like Magic. He burned the frogs away with fire and blasted the shadows with golden white sparks of lightning, sending the foes flying until they either perished or retreated. Vanitas took a step back, glancing over his shoulder at Sora’s open-mouthed gape.

“I-- I- I didn’t know… What to do…” Sora stuttered, still in awe over Vanitas’ effortless fight. How did he know what to do? What was Sora doing wrong? Did he not know how to fight anymore because of his missing memories?

“Hmph…” Vanitas crossed his arms over his chest. “There’s pins. In your pockets.”

“Huh?”

Vanitas rolled his eyes and reached in his own coat pocket, pulling out a handful of shiny pins with a variety of symbols. “Like these… These are how you fight in this world. It’s almost like how we used magic in our world… Do you remember that or was that your price, numskull?”

Sora frowned at Vanitas’ comment before he shoved his hands in his pockets, searching for the pins. Low and behold, he also had a variety of his own pins. “I don't know what you're talking about… What price? I don't even know where we are. I can't- I can't remember anything from before I arrived here. The things I do remember don't make any sense. It's like I'm missing the most important pieces,” Sora rambled. Having Vanitas to vent to was mildly relieving, honestly, but it didn't seem like Vanitas was paying much attention.

Vanitas grabbed the pins from him, picking through them to see which ones he had different from him. He had paused momentarily, staring squarely at the selection in his hand before pocketing one and shoving the rest back to Sora. “Well well well… can't say I'm surprised… I also don’t care.” He said blatantly. “Your price to play seems like it was your memories. But so what? You can still function without them.”

Sora just frowned. Maybe venting to Vanitas didn’t feel so great after all.

Vanitas looked at the palm of his hand and grimaced. “We have to go. Only twenty minutes left to get to the ten-four.” He said and started off, walking in long strides and leaving Sora behind. 

“Hey! Don’t just leave me behind by myself!” Sora called out after him before catching up. “Y-You have to tell me what you know about this place. Why are we here? What's this about Reapers and being erased?” 

Vanitas huffed through his nose. Boy did he look ever annoyed. It was weird for Sora seeing his own face look all pouty and mean like that. He hoped he never subconsciously walked around with a face like that one. 

“We're in another reality. This place is Shibuya. But more importantly, you're in the Reaper's Game. And you're also dead, if you were too stupid to figure out why everyone else here is ignoring you--”

“WHAT?! H-How am I dead?! Am I really dead?!” Sora abruptly stopped and immediately patted himself down. He felt there- with a form at least. Then again, no one here had acknowledged him- and it almost made sense. Dying should’ve explained the loss in memories, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that it was more than that-- because he had already died once before, hadn’t he? But he was sent somewhere else- he remembered it. The Final World, where there was nothing else beyond.

“Why don’t you go ask the crowd that can literally walk through you?” The snarkiness in Vanitas’ voice was undeniable.

 

“W-Well how can you see me? Wouldn’t that mean..? That you’re dead too?”

Vanitas stopped in his tracks, his fists clenching by his sides. “Aw… What’s wrong? You can’t remember that either? You’re the one that ended my second life…” He said bitterly.

Sora frowned, the memories of Vanitas vanishing in a whirl of darkness coming back to mind. That’s right… He helped Ventus defeat Vanitas back at the graveyard. He did remember those bits but didn’t think much of it until just now. “Oh… Right…” He didn’t know what else to say. Vanitas wasn’t exactly a friend or comrade, but he felt the pang of guilt for taking his life tighten in his chest.

Guilt… How often had he ever felt that? Especially for those opposed to him? 

“Whatever… Keep up- you’re wasting time,” Vanitas growled, and he started off again without waiting for Sora. “I don't know what finally broke you in, don't care either. You just better cooperate with me if you want to return to your former life. We have to survive the game for seven days.” 

Sora quickly picked up his feet and followed. He wanted to apologize- honestly- but he knew it wasn’t the time for that. And it seemed unlikely that Vanitas would accept it anyway. He glanced back at his hand again. 15:47. The 104 building wasn’t so far out of reach anymore as Vanitas lead them to it. He hadn’t said a word since reminding Sora that he was the cause of his death, and the silence only made Sora feel worse. He watched the end of Vanitas’ coat sway as they walked, wondering why neither of them could say anything to fill the silence.

Vanitas stopped and held his hand out cautiously, cursing when he was zapped by an invisible barrier. “It’s still blocked,” He growled and paced back, scanning the crowd around them. He spotted one person in a red hood, the only person in the entire crowd that seemed to even notice them.

“What do you mean still?” Sora asked, tilting his head at Vanitas then following his stare over to the man in the red hood. “Who is that guy? Does he see us?! But I thought--”

The man in red nodded his head simultaneously, and then Vanitas stepped through what was once the edge of the barrier. 

“Never mind him... It’s open, let’s go.” Vanitas said, running towards the 104.

“Heeey- Wait, Vanitaaas!” Sora whined, jogging after him. The closer they got to the building, the more awestruck Sora suddenly felt by the big city surrounding him. This was different from the small set of islands he grew up on. It was so much lonelier too from what he could remember, though he wasn’t sure how that was possible since no one but Vanitas could even see him now. He tried not to ponder too much on it right now.

“Made it,” Vanitas slowed down, looking at the palm of his hand. He looked relieved. “The timer’s gone.”

Sora looked at his and sure enough, the timer was no longer there. “Whoa… So… Is that it? Did we complete the mission?”

“I highly doubt it’ll be that easy…” Vanitas mumbled.

“Oh, and you couldn’t be more right, sweetie!” A far off voice yelled out to them. Sora must’ve jumped ten feet- startled by the voice- it was speaking to them, but Vanitas didn’t flinch or seemed remotely surprised like Sora was. He was expecting this, tell-tale of the look of determination on his face and what he said prior. 

“V-Vanitas-- Who is--”

“Shut up-” Vanitas growled and he braced himself, holding his pins ready in his hand.

“You two are gonna get erased, sooner or later! So come on. Help a girl out and earn me a few extra points, ‘K? Huaha!”

The monstrous frogs appeared again, multitudes of them.

“Get ready to fight this time, Sora!” Vanitas jumped back, waving his hand out and creating a line of fire came between him and the monsters, that they had so brainlessly hopped into, injuring themselves just to get to Vanitas. 

They lept towards Sora but he was woefully unprepared for them. He didn’t know how to use the pins, Vanitas didn’t explain that to him. “I- Uh- How exactly?!” Sora exclaimed, backing away. One particularly aggressive looking frog had made a leap for him, the talons that replaced its feet slicing into him. “Ugf-- Vanitas!!! A little help here! I don’t have a clue how to use these pins!”

Vanitas grunted. He switched use of his pins and a little creature appeared next to him, it was dark blue and had red eyes, and its ears looked like blue lightning bolts sprouting from the top of its tiny head. It immediately went after the frogs nearest to Sora and attacked in a flurry until they had vanished. Vanitas grabbed Sora by the back of his collar and yanked him over so they could stand back to back. “Your pins, numskull! Pick one and focus! Act on it! We can’t die here!”

Sora scrambled for the pins in his pockets. Which one was he was supposed to use? He had no clue, but could only guess by the symbols they bore. Each one had a different symbol on it, some he recognized as the emblems from magic spells, like Blizzard and Aero, one with a bright white star, and another with what he could only assume was a slash mark and Key symbol. That one- he grasped that one tightly in his hand and took a deep breath. He hoped this was it, that this would work. 

“Aw, what’s wrong Vanitas?~ Aren’t you an old pro? You’re doing just fine without his help!” the stranger’s voice taunted from its safe and obscure place, undoubtedly observing the struggles between Vanitas and Sora and the monsters.

“Oh shut up, you ugly witch-- Why don’t you just fight me yourself if I’m the pro here?!” Vanitas snarled. He blasted away the frogs that lept for him, but for each one that perished, two more would appear and make their lounge for him. 

“Hehe~ You know I would if I could, sweetheart. Not that you would stand a chance!” She laughed.

Vanitas growled, frustrated by her taunts and the stupid monsters. He had enough reasons to be pissed over this predicament, he didn’t need that taunting witch on his back again. He backed into Sora, nearly toppling them both over. “Sora!!!” He snapped, “What’s taking you so long?! Unfortunately they don’t just let us work by ourselves here. You have to help me.”

“Erf-- I-I’m trying- I’m trying. Cooome on, please do something--!” He gasped, taken by surprise when a large shining silver and gold Key materialized before him, floating just within his reach. It looked very familiar, but oddly a name would not come to his mind. Instinct told him to reach out for it and take it, but just as soon as he did, it whipped far out of reach and spun around both him and Vanitas, clearing the enemies around them by slashing them away. The rest had now disappeared with the appearance of the Key, but then so did the Key before Sora could grab for it.

“Of course…” Vanitas said, envy filling his voice. “You somehow still get your keyblade. Even here where they don’t exist.” 

Sora glanced at him, a puzzled look on his face. “A...Keyblade?” He frowned and scratched at the nape of his neck. “Sounds kind of familiar… Is that part of my missing memories too?”

Vanitas just hummed, turning his attention away when another monster foe appeared before them, much more menacing than the previous frogs. It was standing tall on its hind legs and had a similar appearance to a bear with an ugly mangy face. It’s large and powerful arms equipped with long massive claws for maximum destruction.

“Focus. It’s not over yet.” Vanitas clenched his fists. Readying himself for the next attack. 

Sora nodded, Key pin in hand. He summoned the Key, this time much easier now that he had a feel for it, and both he and Vanitas landed a series of attacks on it, Sora with his flying Key and Vanitas with fire.

The attacks of course only made the bear-like creature more agitated and more aggressive. It snarled, baring it’s ugly yellow teeth and swiped at them with its massive claws. Sora was lucky enough that he was out of reach, but it caught Vanitas and sent him flying yards away, landing on the pavement with a loud thud and crack from what was presumably the jaw of his mask hitting the ground. Vanitas cursed loudly.

“Vanitas! Are you okay?!” Sora switched his pins, using Aero to send the creature flying away to give him time to reach his partner. He ran over to Vanitas and helped him up, but Vanitas shoved him away and got up on his own, holding his shoulder and showing his sharp teeth in a twisted grimace on his face. The jaw piece of his mask was visibly cracked and his hair was mussed up, but Vanitas showed no other signs of injury on his face.

“I’m fine. Mind your own,” He growled, sending a blazing fireball to the ugly creature then summoning his Unversed companion to counter-attack it. The fireball not having done too much damage to this foe to slow it down, it deflected the little unversed like it was a fly, and the unversed landed on the ground with a thwump before vaporizing into black smoke and simply disappearing. Vanitas gasped and started at that- shocked or upset, Sora could barely tell, that it had so easily defeated his tiny companion. He sent sparks of lightning and more furious fire at the creature until it roared and threatened to swat at him again.

Sora summoned his Key again, and with one more critical hit to its body, it was finally defeated. Fading away like static. The Key disappeared once again too, and Sora sighed, feeling exhausted now that the battle was seemingly over. “Is that it? Is it finally over?” 

Vanitas rolled his injured shoulder until he heard it pop, wincing at the sensation. “Of course not… We still have six more days of this crap ahead of us.”

“You… Seem to know a lot about this place, Vanitas…” 

Vanitas looked at him, golden eyes narrow and scrutinizing. “Yeah… Your point? Be grateful, I’m the reason we’re going to win this game and get out of here.”

Sora’s face flushed and he blinked dumbly. “Well- Yeah, sure- It’s just, I mean it’s almost like you’ve been here before… And that voice- she acted like she knew you…”

Vanitas sat down the curb before plopping back and sighing exaggeratedly at the night sky above. “Not my first time dying. It’s a loooong story, so how about I save you that pitiful tale?”

Sora frowned and sat next to Vanitas. He was curious and really did hope Vanitas would share that long story. Maybe it would give him a reason to feel more empathetic towards Vanitas and see him as human. “Have you? For real?..”

Vanitas turned his head to look at him, again with the piercing glare. “Yes, for real. Why are you probbing the topic? Disappointed because it somehow got me back here with you?”

“W-What? No-- I’m not disappointed… You’re not very nice, but it’s kind of nice to at least be here with a familiar face.” Sora said honestly.

Vanitas laughed. “Familiar face… It’s like looking into a mirror,”

Sora laughed too. “Nooo, that’s not what I meant… Just- By having someone here that I already know…” Sora squeezed his hands together in his lap, chewing his cheek. Maybe now was the time to try and make amends. “Vanitas… I’m s--”

“Ah ah ah, I’m not hearing it,” Vanitas shook his head. “Whatever you say, it doesn’t make us allies after we get out of this place.” He sat up-right. “You and I… We couldn’t be more different…” He muttered and stood up.

“My brother made himself whole with the help of your heart, while he left me to continue being incomplete…” Vanitas stated out of the blue. His demeanor changing to cold and icy almost instantly. He looked down at Sora, with what Sora could only describe as Hatred in his eyes. “I hate you for it.” He admitted.

Sora swallowed shallowly, staring back up Vanitas’ glaring golden eyes. “Vanitas…”

Vanitas turned away and sauntered off, the tail of his coat floating behind him. “Let's go. They’ll be giving us our next mission soon…”


	2. Bad Company

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Vanitas POV chapter. 
> 
> It's day two of the Reaper games and Vanitas and Sora's mission is to free a cursed statue. But Vanitas is set on ignoring his partner after admitting to him the night before that they would never get along because of Sora having been involved with healing his other, Ventus; thereby leaving Vanitas without a complete heart because of this. When they finally find the cursed statue, Hachiko, and free it, they- or rather, Vanitas- is given another special mission from a Reaper that is obsessed with having other players erased. Of course, the mission is to erase his own partner, Sora, in which he has no trouble in finding the motivation to complete.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took me so long to finish this chapter because I was on vacation for a week and had very little time to write in between all of the things we had planned, but nevertheless, I've produced this in a semi-timely fashion and am pretty happy with it. This chapter is almost two times longer than the last, and it absolutely because I got to write it in Vanitas' pov! *-* It might not be like, the best/tidiest chapter, but it was pretty fun to write and I hope it can be seen in the writing and is just as enjoyable to read as it was to write. But if you find it stupid, I only apologize a little for wasting your time to read it lol(Just imagine having wasted time writing it,)
> 
> Anyways, 
> 
> JUST
> 
> A
> 
> MILD
> 
> W A R N I N G. 
> 
> there is VIOLENCE in this chapter and a few bad words, like the fuck word and B word; and also a brief mention of past physical abuse and blood!!! 
> 
> In all honesty, I don't think this fic will have another graphic scene like this in it, apart from the normal battle sequences. This was really the only 'graphic' scene that was necessary for the story so far, so if you're squeamish about scenes like this but still want to read the story beyond it, you should be alright after this chapter(You could even skip this chapter, midway or entirely, and be filled in on the key happenings in later chapters)! I'll be sure to add any warnings at the beginning of future content have the needs arise. 
> 
> Enjoy !?!

 

Vanitas had made a point to ignore Sora for the rest of the night, after so boldly declaring his hatred for him. Each time Sora had tried to talk with him, he quickly shut him down and out, in as many ways as he could. Throwing his hood over his head to indicate he wouldn’t be listening to any of Sora’s foolish reasonings, or he would just straight up give Sora the cold shoulder. He  _ really  _ didn’t want to hear anything from that boy. It didn’t matter if it wasn’t truly Sora’s fault or not, he would always hate Sora for being the one that made Ventus whole again. 

 

They found a place to lie low until the next mission was sent out, underneath the underpass where trains passed above them in intervals. Vanitas checked his phone countless times throughout the rest of the night until the morning sun came up and blinded him as it rose and peaked up from between the city buildings. The visor of his mask materialized so he wouldn’t have to been completely blinded by the morning sun, and finally, with the light of day, their mission chimed in on his phone. He glanced over his shoulder at Sora sleeping a few feet away from him, who was laying on the dirty and hard ground curled up. 

 

Vanitas kicked a pebble over at him. “Rise and shine, partner. We got our mission for the day.” Just as he said it, their timers appeared on their hands, actively stinging them both.

 

Sora grunted awake and sat up groggily. He squinted down at the palm of his hand. “60 minutes…” He reached in his pocket for his own phone to read the mission. “Set the cursed sculpture free… Hmm… Do you have any idea what it might be talking about?”

 

Vanitas crossed his arms. “Not a clue, but I won’t be wasting time here. Get off the ground and let’s go.” He said, starting towards the outside street, but he bit down on his tongue when he was shocked.  _ Crap _ .  _ A barrier _ . He growled under his breath.  _ Damn it. Now what?  _

 

Sora stood up and dusted himself off, he looked over at Vanitas. “What’s wrong? Is there another barrier?” He asked. “How will we find the sculpture in here?”

 

“Geez… Quit your whining, will you...” Vanitas muttered too low for Sora’s ears. He looked around the underpass around them, and he spotted another man in a red hood staring at them. It was the same guy that was at the crossing before the 104… He was surely a Reaper though his wings must’ve been hidden underneath the red hoodie he was wearing. It was weird being so noticeably followed by one. Did they follow him his last game? That witch Uzuki probably did. She had an obsession with getting him erased, but he eluded her at the time and managed to win his last game without a scuffle with her.

 

Sora turned to see what he was looking at. “That guy… Do you know him?”

 

“No.” Vanitas sure didn’t, but that wasn’t going to scare him away from confronting the man. He walked over to the man and the man perked up slightly, his eyes still ominously hidden by his hood.

 

“You. Scan the area and erase all the Noise.” The man said.

 

“There’s no Noise around here,” Vanitas pointed out. He had already scanned the area when trying to read the mysterious man, but he didn’t see anything else.

 

Sora walked over cautiously and butted in curiously. “What are you talking about?”

 

“Try again. The world is more than just what you see.” The man said before turning around and walking away.

 

Vanitas glared after him from under his black mask. Hmph. Maybe he didn’t remember as much as he thought from his last game, or the rules changed… What a pain in the ass... Scanning for the Noise? Usually they just attacked without having to go looking for them, but sure, whatever. Things could have been more difficult. He just wanted out of this place, out of Shibuya. He was determined to get his life back and find a way to complete himself; without the help from others.

 

“What’s  _ Noise _ ?”

 

“Do I have to explain everything to you?” Vanitas retorted.

 

Sora shrugged. “Yeah, kinda. I don’t know anything about this place, but you do…” He crossed his arms. “You know, if you hate me so much, why did you make a pact with me yesterday? Couldn’t you have found someone else?” It wasn’t really a question, tell-tale of the annoyance across his brown-haired lookalike’s face.

 

Vanitas rolled his eyes, though Sora could see because of the visor over his face. He wondered the same thing. Why did he pick Sora? It couldn’t’ve been just because Sora was the first player he saw. He  _ could  _ have searched for someone else, but he didn’t…And why was that? He decided to just ignore that question entirely instead, and answer the first one. 

 

“The monsters. They call them Noise here... Now be quiet so I can scan and find them.” He said finally. Sora was the one glaring now, but he did as he was told and stood quietly still. Vanitas shut his eyes, focusing on the noises around him and listening for the different frequency that the Noise gave off. 

 

_ There _ . He saw where the little buggers were hiding, behind the Red Reaper, and they wasted no time to attack when they were revealed.

 

Sora was much more prepared for the attack today with his Keyblade Pin; unlike yesterday when he couldn’t even figure out the pins without Vanitas’ help. They teamed up and erased the surrounding Noise without any problems, but after that, Vanitas was back to only speaking to the other boy when necessary. Vanitas walked over to the entrance of the underpass and reached his hand out. Good. No barrier. He had to remind Sora to follow him since Sora was notoriously good at getting distracted it seemed; either that or being a pain in the ass was his retaliation for receiving the cold shoulder. 

 

When they left the underpass, someone had yelled at them.

 

_ Oh, just great- _

 

“Hey! You punks!!! We got you now!” The voice yelled at them. Then the owner of the obnoxious voice ran over to them. A tall man that was sporting a black beanie cap with a large white skull on it, and blonde hair sticking out from under it. He had a fist readied at them but he didn’t strike- at least not yet. “You got us good yesterday! But today I’mma crush you, yo!” 

 

Vanitas laughed at the audacity displayed here- he couldn’t help it.  _ What an utter  _ **_fool-_ **

 

The man was taken aback by Vanitas’ laugh. “Hey- What’re you laughing at, y-you weird cyberpunk?! You think it’s funny what you and your friends did to me and Rhyme?!”

 

“What?” Vanitas said. His smirk hidden well behind his black mask. His first instinct was to scan him, but nothing came up when he did. Another Player? Probably… Considering the player pin and the actual stupidity being displayed. Did the man think he and Sora were Reapers? How hilarious. Fortunately, Vanitas was lucky to still have the experience from his last game, and he was well acquainted with the Reapers and the difference between them and other players… He would have been a fool to have gotten them mixed up and go around accusing people.

 

Sora waved his hands wildly to get the other man's attention. “Whoa! Why do you want to crush us? We didn't do anything!” Sora said in their defense.

 

“Oh, sure you didn’t! You ain’t foolin’ me! I can’t scan you, so you gotta be Reapers!”

 

“You got the wrong people here, pal. I’m certainly not one of  _ them _ .” Vanitas showed him one of his player pins that he had pinned to the tassel of his coat. The other player pin he took from Sora was stuffed in his pocket. It was a mystery why Sora began with two, but Vanitas snuck the extra one away from him. He wondered if having two player pins meant anything. He wasn't sure, but he had an odd feeling over why Sora had two.

 

“Wha--” the man started, only to be interrupted by who could only be assumed was his partner approaching and interjecting into the one-sided quarrel.

 

“Beat, I told you they were players! Just because we can't scan them doesn't mean they’re Reapers…” The shorter blonde said, waving for her partner to back down. “I'm sorry about this. Beat here is just a bit on edge from yesterday.”

 

Sora tilted his head curiously and rocked closer to them from his toes, expressing his interest. “What happened to you guys yesterday?”

 

_ Ugh _ . They didn't have time for this. Didn't that idiot know that or did he want to be erased?

 

“Oh, we were cornered by this weird pink haired girl before we reached 104-” the shorter blonde started,

 

“--And she sicked a buncha Noise on us! Messed us up real bad, yo...” The taller one continued.

 

“Sora,” Vanitas hissed. He didn't listen to what the other players were saying. He didn't care. He and Sora had a mission, and they needed to get to it. “We don't have time to listen to stories. We have to find this stupid statue unless you want to get erased,”

 

“Vanitas--” Sora started with a frown on his face.

 

The short blonde perked up. “Hm? Yeah, we're looking for it too! Are you thinking it's Hachiko?”

 

“Hachiko?” Sora and Vanitas asked simultaneously, one much less enthused than the other, though the interest was vaguely still there. 

 

“Yeah, you know the loyal dog’s statue right?”

 

“Uuuhhmmm--” Sora scratched at his cheek sheepishly. “No, I'm not really familiar with this place… Vanitas is though, aren't you, Vanitas?” Sora looked at him hopefully, but Vanitas shook his head.

 

He didn't think it was wise to open up about having played the game before to strangers. What would they do if they knew? Bother him for help? Call him a cheater? ...Even though he didn't remember the missions from before, he still had great knowledge of the game and the Reapers, and that counted for something valuable here… But even with all that knowledge, he didn’t know the place’s geography  _ that  _ well.

 

“Nope. I don't know anything about the statue…” Vanitas admitted. “Where’s it at?”

 

“It’s not far from here, just a few blocks from the West Exit Bus Terminal over thatta way,” The little blondie informed them helpfully.

 

The taller blonde cleared his throat. “Yo, I’m really sorry about nearly jumpin’ you guys a minute ago. How about we get an introduction goin’? I’m Beat, this here is my partner, Rhyme,” He pat his large hand on her head like he was proudly showing her off. “You two got any questions, you ask us! We players gotta work together.”

 

Rhyme nodded her head. “Yeah,”

 

_ Ask them _ ?  _ Please--  _ They’re the idiots that jumped them for thinking they were Reapers for Chrissake… Besides, Vanitas probably knew much more than either one of them, and they already helped enough by telling them where the statue was. He was ready to go and get a move on, but of course, Sora was doing what Sora did best and held them up with his stupid friendliness. Sora really was just like Ventus… The thought of his other half made the lonely half of his heartache. He was destined to be forever incomplete without Ventus, and he hated the truth of it...

 

“Heh. Don’t worry about it! It’s not like you caused us any harm, right? I’m Sora. It’s nice to meet you.”

 

“Sora. Let’s. Go. We’re wasting time here.” Vanitas said in a demanding tone and he sauntered away from them, taking the Blondes’ information about the statue’s whereabouts and following it.

 

“What’s with him?” asked Beat.

 

Sora sighed and rubbed at his neck, looking after Vanitas. “It’s… a long story... Maybe we should catch up another time? Thanks for the tip, though! Good luck to you guys!” He waved them goodbye them before running behind Vanitas. “Vanitas?” He called after him, but Vanitas ignored him once again.

 

Sora huffed. “Hey, Vanitas!!! Are you ever going to listen to me? Or at least--” He grunted, for once seeming frustrated rather than helpless. “Talk to me? Can’t we form some kind of communication and get over this?”

 

Vanitas partially pondered the answer for a moment before he shook his head. “Nope. Don’t think so.” 

 

“Why not?!” Sora threw his hands up and caught him by the sleeve of his coat. 

 

Vanitas yanked his arm away from Sora’s grasp just as quickly. “I told you,  **_I. Don’t. Like you_ ** **.** ” He carefully punctuated the words, hoping to get the point across. “Besides, we have a mission to focus on. If we talk, you’re just going to hold us up and we’ll be one step closer to being erased. So, with that being said, I think you and I should just try to work together here without the talking, alright? ..You’re making me seriously regret this pact with you…” He walked farther ahead of Sora, ignoring his partner’s disappointment and obvious attempts to argue the matter. He looked at street signs, the one that pointed ahead to the Hachiko memorial statue. They were getting close it seemed, but as soon as he thought that, he ran into a barrier, hissing at the shock it gave him. 

 

_ Seriously _ ? What now? There was no Noise here. There wasn’t even a statue here, was there?

 

He spun around to get a better look at their surroundings. Of course the red hooded reaper was nearby, quietly observing, but Vanitas looked past him. There  _ was  _ a statue, sitting tucked away in its own private corner. It was filthy and covered and bird droppings, and a man stood near it trying to clean it, but no Noise could be seen with the visible eye. It sure didn't look cursed, and It didn't even look like a very significant statue in Vanitas’ opinion. 

 

Sora looked over at it, too, and of course, had to comment something completely obvious and unuseful... “That's… not the statue we're looking for, is it?”

 

“Don't think so. But there's a barrier this way and Hachiko is on the other side of it according to the sign…” Vanitas crossed his arms, thinking, and people watching. 

 

He focused on the one man nearest the ugly forgotten statue, the one trying to clean and polish it, though he wasn't getting very far, as it seemed too many years of grime and dirt had accumulated on it for it to ever be back in its prime state. But despite that, the man looked very adamant to return the statue to its former glory. Vanitas decided to scan him and the surrounding area, and surprise surprise, there was Noise hiding around the dirty old statue. 

 

Sora hopped back and got ready to attack when they became visible, his keyblade pin obviously becoming his most trusted pin here. Vanitas couldn’t blame him for favoring it, it was certainly strong. Of course it also sparked some mild feelings of jealousy... How come he didn’t notice it earlier when he looked at all of Sora’s pins? He certainly would have swapped his thunder pin for that… But  _ whatever _ . It was too late now to pocket it.

 

He brushed those feelings aside and helped Sora clear the rest of the Noise, all of it that they could scan and find in the area, just to be sure. When they cleared the Noise out, the statue didn’t look as dirty and old anymore, and the kooky man suddenly looked very pleased with himself, as if any of his polishing had actually done the trick to restore the old thing.

 

The Reaper in Red walked passed them, hands shoved in his pockets. “Objective met. The wall has been lifted.”

 

Vanitas turned to look at him pass, but he was out of sight just as quick.  _ Hmph _ . He glanced at his timer. 32:15. So, they still had to find the statue to complete the mission. Hopefully it was Hachiko, because they didn’t have any more leads, and time was running out. “Sora, this way,” He walked past where the barrier had been and they looked around for the dog statue. 

Sora ran over to it first. “Hey, Vanitas, I think this is it!” He called out. “But there’s no Noise here,”

 

Vanitas walked over. “That’s because you had to scan the environment with your player pin. I don’t think I should be the only one doing all of the work.” His mask dematerialized and he crossed his arms impatiently. “Don’t tell me you need another explanation on how the pins work,” He said when Sora held onto his player pin as he would his battle pins and made a super-concentrating face that made him look more like he was suffering from an aneurysm than anything.

 

“Uhm… Maybe-- Uh- hold on, hold on… Let me just focus and try again,” Sora closed his eyes and exhaled. He really looked like he was using it- but then he crinkled his nose and shook his head disappointedly. 

 

“What?” Vanitas said with a growl.

 

“I… I don’t think it’s working?” Sora frowned and peeked his eyes back open.

 

“You probably just aren’t using it right, amateur...” Vanitas said with a scowl. Guess he had to do everything himself.  _ Useless _ . He tried scanning himself, and everything seemed fine until he realized there was no Noise around the statue. No Noise around the area at all… But he could still read people around them, so of course the pin had to be working. 

 

_ Well crap _ . He began to think that maybe they had the wrong statue... Was he wrong to listen to the stupid blondies after all? They didn’t have time to hunt for another statue, Shibuya was too big, and without a clear destination it would have taken them much longer than the thirty minutes left on their timers.

 

This was great, just  _ great _ . Only their second mission and they were already set up to fail.

 

He looked over at Sora who was stroking the statue-- What the hell was he doing- “What the hell are you doing…” He asked, annoyance clear as day in his tone.

 

Sora shrugged. “I dunno. It’s a dog, I kinda wanted to pet it.” Sora said with no shame and he put his hand down- but the statue- or something- growled when he stopped.

 

Both of them took a surprised step back, looking at one another accusingly.

 

“Vanitas… Was that you?” Sora asked suspiciously.

 

Vanitas made a face and shook his head. “No, you idiot, that wasn’t me. I think that was the statue,” He reached out and stroked it’s side. Some kind of dirt or substance was falling off of it in flakes, and it continued to rumble and growl lowly. Sora quickly joined and wiped the other side with his hand, brushing away the funk until a wolf-like creature shook the remaining debris off of itself and lunged off the pedestal.

 

Instead of being grateful for the help of freeing it, it turned and bore it’s ugly teeth at Sora and Vanitas, growling viciously before it lept between them and struck them both down with the force of its massive body. 

 

It knocked the breath out of Vanitas when he hit the ground, and the Wolf went for him first, snapping its jaws wildly in his face while he was defenseless on his back. He managed to keep it from biting him by pushing it away with his arm, then Sora came up behind it and whacked it off of him with his Keyblade.

 

“Back off!” Sora swung at it again and it cowered away momentarily, allowing Vanitas to get to his feet and scramble for his Groove Pawn pin and summon his unversed Flood to distract it. 

 

“Looks like it was cursed after all, huh?”

 

“Mmm… You could say that,” Vanitas said, throwing a fireball at the wolf when it charged for him again, but it ducked underneath it and lept for him again-  _ Tricky bastard! _ \- but he had enough time to step out of the way and attack with bolts of lightning and make it yelp in pain. It turned and ran off, and Vanitas half expected that it was going to run away,but it turned around and ran back. It started to seem just as frantic as it was feral, running around like it was trapped in a cage- and maybe it was when Vanitas thought about it, as admittedly they were too.

 

“Sora, let’s finish it,” Vanitas muttered. Sora nodded his head in agreement, sending his keyblade flying after it, and Vanitas finished it off with a bolt of lightning. It vanished with the same static all noise did, and Vanitas looked at his hand. That was it. The timer was gone… What a relief. Even with the trouble they had finding the noise in the statue, it wasn’t a very hard mission. It almost seemed too easy, but Vanitas wouldn’t complain. He knew they would only be getting harder from here, but he had confidence in himself to get out of this one, too.

 

Sora rubbed at his neck uncomfortably while he watched the Noise vanish before them, a small frown on his face for a moment. He looked at his hand then back at Vanitas. “Looks like we finished this mission… You know,” Sora began, a playful grin slowly creeping onto his face. “You totally would have been toast without me just now! That Noise had you pinned down!”

 

Vanitas rolled his eyes and his mask materialized again to hide his annoyance and frustration. “I would have been fine.I was going to kick it off of me, but you just got to it first,” he admitted. 

 

Sora snickered and laughed. “Sure sure. You’re just too embarrassed to admit that maybe you and I could make a good team... If we just helped one another, and maaaybe if we talked about the personal issues between us--”

 

“Uuughhh-- This is sooooo infuriating! Of course it would be you two again…” a familiar feminine voice called out to them, getting closer as the sound of heeled boots carried it over.

 

Sora jumped. Vanitas barely did. At this point, he was expecting this, expecting  _ her _ . Though he was actually surprised she was going to show her face to him this early in the week. He couldn’t help but to think what a witch she was. She obviously didn’t play by any rules, so why couldn’t she have ended up erased for playing dirty, or did the ones running this place not give a damn? 

 

“You sure know how to make death a living hell, Uzuki.” He retorted. Eyeballing Uzuki from under his mask as she strutted up. Her pink hair was cropped short, framing her pale face, thin pink lips and cat-like hazel eyes, and her black wings were following behind her like some kind of very important statement. She was only a Harrier Reaper, the lowest rank, from what he remembered, but she acted as if she was more entitled than some of her superiors, and it was obvious by how she flaunted herself. 

 

“You!!! You were at the 104 yesterday!” Sora exclaimed, instinctively bracing himself, which even Vanitas thought was a smart move on Sora’s behalf, despite knowing no matter how prepared they could be for her, she could probably still erase them far too easily.

 

“Well, excuuuuse me for doing my job…” She said smugly, a coy smile spread on her pink lips. She had an obvious disregard for Sora after that and stopped short of Vanitas. “Oh, Vanitas… One of my all-time favorite players! I don’t what you did to be able to remember your last game as a player, but I can almost say that I’m glad you didn’t forget me.” She cooed. “It’ll be more fun having you erased this go round-”

 

Vanitas scowled at her. “I’m not getting erased.” 

 

“Yeah! Neither of us are, Pinky! What do you have against Vanitas?!” Sora threw his arm between Uzuki and Vanitas and demanded to know. 

 

Vanitas was just as surprised as Uzuki to see Sora defending him, but Uzuki quickly brushed Sora off. “Leave my hair out of this and get lost you brat. This isn’t between you and I. Though, I’d kind of like to erase the both of you now, just because of your smart mouth.” She raised her lip at him.

 

“Well that’s not gonna happen!” Sora shouted. He braced himself, his keyblade pin ready in his hand before Vanitas could intervene and stop his idiotic self from threatening her.

 

Uzuki laughed, amused by Sora’s antics. “Haha~ You’re faaaaar too innocent! Maybe I do like your character just a tad bit! You wouldn’t dare try and fight me if you were smart, though,” She flicked his nose with her finger playfully. “How about I give you two another round and we’ll see after that?!” the grin on her face turned wild and she threw her clawed hand up dramatically, summoning her pawns and disappearing from Sora’s reach.

 

Two more large wolves and an enormous red and black porcupine surrounded them, all getting ready to attack at once.

 

“Great job Sora. Now you really done it.” Vanitas growled at him through clenched teeth. He couldn’t block all of the attacks from the Noise at once, with the two wolves attacking him from the back, and the porcupine creature shooting explosive darts from the front.

 

He groaned when he was hit by one of the darts, causing him to be knocked to the side. He was fortunate enough to catch himself and stay on his feet, sending a counter line of fire the wolves’ way when they tried to make a lunge for him.

 

Uzuki laughed from the distance and clapped her hands, obviously observing and admiring her work. 

 

_ What a  _ **_bitch_ ** _. _

 

Vanitas swore to defeat her- he had to. One day, one way or another. He couldn’t play this game of cat and mouse with her for the whole week, she’d definitely end up erasing him at this rate. He had to think of a plan, find a way to catch her off guard the next moment he had a chance.

 

Sora was also hit by one of the explosive darts, falling back and rolling over before springing back up just as quickly to his feet. His Keyblade slashed at the Wolves until one of them had finally been erased, giving them a little more room to fight the other threat here. Sora steered clear of the spines on that thing, freezing it’s entire back with his Blizzard pin so that they had a few more seconds to reorient themselves before the next strike from it’s Wolf ally.

 

Good thinking, freezing the spines on its back so it couldn’t strike them... Vanitas thought it, but he wasn’t going to say it out loud and encourage Sora, not after the trouble the dumbass had gotten them into. They wouldn’t have to be fighting these Noise if he hadn’t antagonized Uzuki; though, she probably would have done this to them without being egged on anyway…  The last wolf-like Noise lunged for him and snagged his arm, causing him to drop the pins in his hand.

 

“Crap!” Vanitas dove to pick of his pins, but the Wolf attacked again, snapping at his helmet- thankfully he had it on otherwise he would have been in some kind of trouble. He kicked the Wolf off and grabbed for his fire pin to cast fire and finally erase the Wolf. That was two more out of their way, and one more to go. Two, if he could find a way to erase Uzuki here and now, but he couldn’t be dumb.

 

“Come on, Vanitas! You’re getting distracted. Wouldn’t it be a shame to be erased now?” She taunted him and giggled.

 

“Shut up!” Sora and Vanitas yelled at her in unison. 

 

Vanitas rolled over and snatched the rest of his pins and got back up to his feet. Sora wasn't having too much luck with the last Noise, as it was much stronger than the previous two, and was just as mean, having caused Sora quite a bit of pain with its large spines on its back that were unavoidable the closer they got. Sora's keyblade may not have had to be held in his hand, but it still didn't attack at a very far distance.

 

Vanitas struck it with a killer bolt of lightning, and it slowed down its own attacks tremendously after, having been wounded quite a bit from the strike. They had an opening to finish it off, and they did, together with scorching fire and holy, a blast of purifying white light. 

 

Even Vanitas winced through his visor, shielding his eyes from the light until it passed. The Noise was erased with static that scrambled their vision of much of the area surrounding it, and both Sora and Vanitas winced until it passed.

 

Sora huffed, out of breath, and he looked over at Vanitas. “Is it finally over?” He whined and held his bleeding arm. 

 

“Well well,” Uzuki chimed in, prancing back over to them with a clawed hand on her hip. “I would say I'm impressed, but I didn't expect anything less from you, Vanitas. But you're new partner is like, really strong, too. I gotta say, you two making interesting players, it's almost a shame I have to erase you.” she said with mock empathy, preparing to summon more Noise.

 

Vanitas growled at her and got ready to argue, but Sora cut in, pain still written on his face alongside his sheer determination.

 

“You're a coward for using the Noise and attacking us!” He shouted.

 

Uzuki raised a thin brow at him. “Would you prefer me to fight me yourself?” She asked, and Sora idiotically braced himself, ready for her challenge. She laughed. “You are pretty strong, I can give you that, but you're an absolute idiot. Fight me and you are sure to be erased for good,” she grinned madly. “But sure, why not?! I have nothing better to do!”

 

Vanitas felt his body go rigid with fear momentarily. They couldn’t be serious?! He snatched Sora by his shoulder and made him yield back. “Sora! Don't play into her games like that, you idiot! She'll erase you in a second-- she'll erase us!” He snapped at Sora, and Sora froze, the determination in his face fading away.

 

Uzuki snickered and crossed her arms over her chest. “Aw, and after you had gotten my hopes up for a little fun… Maybe I should just finish the job!” She laughed maniacally and both Sora and Vanitas took a step back, wearily steeling themselves for an attack.

 

She hummed to herself, mildly displeased with a sudden thought. “But… unfortunately, I can't do that.” She said, sounding truly disappointed. “I'll tell you what though, I can make a deal with you, Vanitas,” her hazel eyes locked onto him mischievously and her lips curled up into a coy grin. “I can let you out of the game. If you can complete a special bonus challenge; a special one just for you.”

 

Vanitas felt hesitant for a second, but hope, if he had any, got in the way of any rationalization. “You can let me out of the game?” He asked, intrigued. His mask dematerialized and their eyes locked. He would listen to her, just this once. He wanted out of the game, it hardly mattered the cost to him to get out, but he knew not to be stupid and trust her too much either. This was one of those times when weighing your options mattered and determining whether or not she was lying.

 

“You betcha! What do you say? Erase your partner here and I'll have you let free from the game.” She said, setting the terms for her own little game.

 

“That’s it?”

 

“What?!” Sora shouted. “Vanitas!!! Y-You just told me not to play into her games-- now you're going to play into hers?!”

 

“Yep! That’s it. Pretty straight forward right? You erase him in the next three minutes, and you’ll get a free ticket outta here.” She said confidently.

 

He stared at her for a long minute.  It sounded too easy, too good to be true… But all he had to do was erase Sora? He couldn’t think of any reason not to, or any other consequences that he should worry about.

 

“Come on Vanny… I know you'd do anything to get out of here, and here’s a way you can, It’s a guarantee, I promise~” She was coaxing him, though he already had a million scenarios playing in his head.

 

He’d be free. One more chance. A guarantee out of here, for good, because he wasn’t going to let someone else control his life and get him killed again--

 

“Shut up, Pinky! He-- He won't do it! I know he won't! Vanitas--”

 

Vanitas tightened his fists and glanced at Sora once, before nodding his head to Uzuki. If that was his price out, it wasn't as bad as the one getting in, right? He could do it. He had to do it, to get out of here once and for all and start his life over. He would change things this time, for himself, so that he wouldn’t have to suffer over again. 

 

“I'll do it.” He agreed.

 

Uzuki giggled and clapped her hands. “I knew it,”

 

“Vanitas!” Sora shrieked, taking a precautionary step away from him. “Vanitas, don't do this. She's obviously lying to you! Y-You and I… We can get out of this, we can! But only if we're together--”

 

“Oh  _ shut  _ **_up_ ** .” Vanitas said in a low growl, taking a step towards Sora. “You've been a thorn in my side ever since I made a pact with you- I even told you that! You healed my other and now I'm going to be incomplete for as long as I live because of  **_you_ ** .  _ Don't think I  _ **_won't_ ** _ do this. _ ” he said, baring his sharp teeth in an angry scowl, his amber eyes burning like fire. He was blinded by his own anger, whether or not it truly deserved to be directed at Sora, it didn’t matter suddenly. The real perpetrator for his riven from his other wasn’t here, and all his pent up anger and hurt just couldn’t be bottled up anymore; someone had to pay for it. He lunged without a second thought and grabbed Sora by his neck, knocking him to the ground and landing on top, wringing Sora’s neck with his hands while he had him pinned down.

 

Sora bit his tongue when he fell on his back, choking on blood and the crushing pressure on his throat from Vanitas. he wheezed and clawed at Vanitas’ wrists. “V-Van...St...st--op!!” He pleaded between the breaths he could manage, spitting blood on Vanitas’ arms. He struggled and desperately tried to kick Vanitas off.

 

Vanitas bared his teeth. He forced more of his weigh to his arms and held a tight grip, though he had to swat Sora’s scratching hands away when they got too pesky. “You don’t know what I’ve had to go through after being torn from him! You have no idea!!” He barked angrily. 

 

Sora fought his hardest underneath him, trying to kick or twist or turn from under him- but it only caused him more pain. He squealed and desperately fought for breath. “ **_Van--_ ** !”

 

“You don’t know how badly I wished to have returned to his heart, only to realize there was no place for me anymore! I blamed myself for it- because of all the awful things my Master made me do to him…” He paused, hot tears threatening his eyes suddenly. “But I-I was told… I was told it was the only way! That I still had a chance-- if I- if I did what he wanted and forced him to form the x-blade!” Vanitas’ voice started to crack. He’s never felt so...vulnerable… Spilling out the truths he’s never talked about before with anyone. Why was he suddenly talking about them now? Why?! Wasn’t this showing his weakness? He wasn’t supposed to do that- ever. To no one but Ven. He blinked the water out of his eyes and opened them again, and he saw the image of his brother underneath him. He immediately loosened the grip on Sora’s neck and he jerked away enough that the boy underneath him could catch a breath. Hot tears continually welling up in his eyes and spilling over his cheeks, blurring his vision even more.  _ Ventus… _ ? Hadn’t he put Ventus through enough? 

 

“Vanitas! What are you waiting for?! Do what comes naturally!” Uzuki shouted at him from somewhere on the side. It suddenly got him to focus and come back to the situation slightly, but everything around him seemed to shake violently and spin wildly. He felt like he was going to tip over or be sick.

 

What was he doing, thinking about his brother? Feeling bad for him when he should’ve been feeling bad for himself; right here and now in the present? This wasn’t Ventus underneath him anyway, and more importantly, this was his way out of the Game. He had to stop being weak. He blinked once at Sora underneath him. A distance part of himself telling him that he didn’t, or shouldn’t, have to do this, but he bit it back and grabbed Sora by his throat again, squeezing hard.

 

“D-Don’t--” Sora pleaded, strained. He struggled to get Vanitas’ hands away from his throat before he ended up punching Vanitas directly in the face, breaking his nose and effectively getting Vanitas off of him by sending him backwards. He shot straight up and inhaled deeply with a sob, tears of anger and betrayal streaming down his face. “V-Van..itas! What…. what is wrong with you…” He sobbed, glaring angrily at him with his water-filled eyes. He touched tenderly at his own throat and winced, still coughing and wheezing, trying to get his breathing back to normal.

 

Vanitas blinked, dazed, and wiped his bloody nose on the back of his hand. He looked at Sora and he couldn't describe the feeling that surged over him and sat deep in his chest, like water sitting on his lungs. It was punishment, whatever it was. He couldn't say anything- he couldn't even think.

 

Uzuki took a step over him and glared down at him, her arms crossed. “How disappointing, Vanitas. Guess I’ll have to finish the job and just erase you both myself after all-”

 

“Ey! that’s enuffa that.” A gruff voice said to her and a tall, lanky, scruffy man walked over.

 

“Hm?” Uzuki perked up and glanced over her shoulder, scowling at the man. “Um. Who are you?” She asked, annoyance written on her face.

 

“Ah-ah-ah… You aren’t playing by the rules, sister. Making ‘Erase Your Partner’ a mission is a clear violation,” The man said, ignoring her question.

 

Vanitas wiped the tears and blood away from his face, grimacing at the pain from his newly busted nose. He still felt groggy and weird, but he did his best to brush it off and forget about it… That’s how he lived his life. Forget the bad parts, the weak parts, the embarrassing parts, and the sad parts… Fuck. It. All., Do as you’re told, and live another day… Nothing else had really mattered beyond those rules, but he wanted out of those habits, wasn’t that the point of being here? He glanced over warily at the man then at Uzuki with a death glare. “You tricked me.” He growled to her. She merely shrugged her shoulders to him but acknowledged him no further after that.

 

“I knew that. I was just having a little fun.” She said unapologetically, and her mood seemed to lighten a bit around that man.

 

The man shook his head and grinned slightly. “So it seems… But you should know the rules, Reaper. One mission per day, and only the Game Master can pick the mission.”

 

She rolled her eyes. “I know that, too. But I’m not the Game Master, which means it wasn’t a real mission and I didn’t break any rules.”

 

“Mmmhm,” The man didn’t sound or look so convinced, but he was passive with her anyway. “The mission is over for the day, which means your work’s done. You should probably start walkin’, sister.”

 

Uzuki raised her lip in a scowl again. “Hmph… For a player, you know a lot about  _ our _ rules…” She glanced over at Vanitas. “Even a second-time player doesn’t seem to know them.”

 

“Screw you. You tricked me! I want out of this game and you knew it. You lied about letting me out of the Game!” Vanitas retorted, getting back to his feet though he was slightly unsteady.

 

She scoffed. “How rude. I didn’t lie. Had I erased you afterward, that’d still technically be letting you out of Game, y’know. But whatever, blame me for you being the gullible one here.” She hummed and spun around on her toes and clapped her hands together. “Well, you’ve ruined my fun,” She said to the tall man, “But I was going to call it a day anyway… We can play another time, Vanitas, Sora…” She waved her hand dismissively behind herself and strolled off.

 

The man shook his head disapprovingly after her, then he held a hand out to help Sora back up to his feet, who was still on the ground trying to console himself and clean up face. “You okay, kid?”

 

Sora shrugged half-heartedly, his watery, puffy eyes trained on the ground by his feet. “Y-Yeah… I’ll be okay… Thank you, mister.”

 

“The name’s Hanekoma. Sanae Hanekoma. But feel free to call me Mr. H.” The man said, a gentle but cool grin returning to his scruffy face. “Sure glad the two of you are okay and didn’t fall victims to her conniving game…” He hummed and rubbed absently at his neck, eyeing Vanitas. “Well, I guess  _ you _ did. I think you owe your partner here an apology. You did nearly erase him after all,”

 

“Uzuki-- She tricked us-” Vanitas sputtered in their, or rather his  _ own, _ defense.

 

Hanekoma shook his head at Vanitas. “No, no. I think you mean she tricked  **_you_ ** . For being a second-time player of the Game, you sure haven’t seemed to have learned much from your last… Guess that’s why you’re here again.”

 

Vanitas narrowed his glassy gold eyes at Hanekoma. Was he a Reaper? He didn’t recognize him, and he didn’t have wings like a Reaper. Vanitas found it hard to believe he was Player like them, and there was no visible Player pin, but he had no recollection of anyone like him at all. “Who are you, again?” Vanitas asked.

 

“I believe I’ve already introduced myself… Now, I think your Partner here is still waiting for an apology, is he not? You know hard feelings don’t make for good teamwork... And you do want to survive the Game, do you not?” Mr. H waved his hands towards Sora in a prompt. “Go on… Apologize to your partner,  _ Mask. _ ”

 

Sora held his arms close to himself, his eyes moving from Hanekoma to Vanitas slowly. Vanitas could tell he was trying to suck up the trauma and act normal after it by keeping his head up, but Sora’s eyes and body language said it all… He was scared, and obviously wary of Vanitas.

 

There was that heavy, watery feeling in his chest and throat again. He sucked it up and forced it out with a steadying sigh. “Sora… I’m…  _ Sorry _ …” He muttered out the best he could.

 

Sora forced a smile and nodded his head meekly, averting his eyes away from Vanitas’ almost as soon as they had met. “Oh… Yeah… Let’s just not to do that again...” He touched at his neck and winced before dropping his hands at his sides. 

 

Hanekoma clapped his hands on both of their shoulders and they both winced. “There we go! All hard feelings to side, right? Well good. Now listen closely to me, you two,” He squeezed them and tugged them closer by the grasp he had on them, looking at them over the rim of his tinted glasses. “There’s only one way to survive in this Shibuya, and it’s by trusting and working well with your partner! You got that Mask?” He tipped Vanitas on the side of his head and Vanitas grimaced slightly, mostly because of the nickname, but he nodded and listened.

 

“You should already know this from experience, but partnership is essential to surviving the Game. Alone, you face limitations, but partner up and you can smash right through them.” Mr. H released their shoulders and straightened back up, hands in his pockets. “You should open up to one another and talk about your feelings! You never know, it may be the thing that helps you out the most. Can’t have a good partnership without good communication.”

 

Sora glanced at Vanitas and nodded agreeingly. “Yeah, he’s right, Vanitas… I know you  _ hate  _ me, but it’s not my fault about Ventus’ separation from you… I’m trying to make you see that. I don’t want to be your enemy. Not here, not back in our world… We have to win the game and we can only do that together. We can go home and fix all of this between me, you, and Ventus. We can set it right, I know we can.”

 

Vanitas grimaced slightly before sighing. “Yeah… I guess we can try, but it won’t change my past with Ventus. It might not even help me become one with him, because he doesn’t need  _ me _ anymore after you…” He paused, “...And I’ve decided long ago that I didn’t want to lose my own sense of self…” He looked down at his hands. He  _ was  _ his own person. Incomplete, yes, but… he was his own being… With his own experiences. As much as he missed the other half of his own heart, he could admit he didn’t fully like the idea of returning to Ventus and sharing  _ his  _ experiences with him and seeing how it would change their heart. It could end up being the worst for them, in all honesty, especially after all the time that’s since passed… His plan now had to be finding a way to complete his own heart, without joining back with Ventus’.

 

Sora brows creased together and a small frown pulled at his still bloody lips. “So… You’re saying you  _ don’t  _ want to join with Ventus anymore?”

 

Vanitas shrugged. “I’m saying that I don’t think it would be the best for either of us if we did… He and I… We’ve had too much time apart.”  

 

“Oh…” Something clicked in Sora, and he seemed to understand. They left it at that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OOOfff I had so much fun writing this chapter, honestly. Just a quick fyi though for anyone interested, I actually have two other KH fics in the planning process!! I'm mega excited to start on them when I get the chance! I won't talk too much about them here, other than one will be M rated and the other will be T rated, and they're both heavily Vanitas/Ventus centered. Yassssss, I absolutely can't wait to get started!!! SO what does that even have to do with this fic?! NOTHING!!! Other than if updates start to become few and far in between, you'll know why!!! (＾▽＾) (I promise this one isn't being dropped ! )
> 
> You can follow me on Tumblr @Dumb-Birdd and chat with me or ask me stuff about it if you want!
> 
> Thank you for reading!!! See ya in the next chapter🖐

**Author's Note:**

> You can ask me questions or chat with me on my tumblr😭...
> 
> www.dumb-birdd.tumblr.com 
> 
> Thanks for reading! See ya next chapter.
> 
> P.S. - I just realized that I forgot the HTML for the italics and bolds and such for this chapter. It's not like,,, suuuper important to have(aka I'm Just Lazy Right Now) but I will be fixing that later since it kind of adds more of a voice to them in certain scenes.😩😩


End file.
